Ribes velutinum is a species of currant known by the common name desert gooseberry. Distribution It is endemic to the deserts and mountains of the Western United States. It is native to areas in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, California, and Arizona), It grows in many types of habitat, including sagebrush scrub, pinyon-juniper woodland, and yellow pine forest. Description Ribes velutinum is a spreading shrub with a thick, arching, multibranched stem growing up to 2 meters (80 inches) long. Nodes along the stems are armed with spines which may reach 2 centimeters (0.8 inch) in length. These are spines, not prickles, as they are derived from leaf material rather than from the plant epidermis (skin). The thick, leathery leaves have generally rounded blades divided shallowly into three or five lobes and dotted with glandular hairs. The small blades are borne on petioles. The inflorescence is a solitary flower or raceme of up to four flowers. Each small flower is a tube of white or yellowish sepals with smaller, similarly colored petals inside. The bloom period is April and May. The fruit is an edible berry one half to one centimeter (0.2-0.4 inch) wide which ripens yellow, then reddish or purple. Varieties Ribes velutinum var. goodingii — Gooding's gooseberry, endemic to the Great Basin region in California, Nevada, Idaho, Washington, Oregon. References External links Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Ribes velutinum Missouri Botanical Garden: herbarium specimen (1905) UC Calphotos gallery: Ribes velutinum images velutinum Endemic flora of the United States Flora of California Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of the California desert regions Natural history of the Mojave Desert Plants described in 1885 Taxa named by Edward Lee Greene Flora without expected TNC conservation status